Introduction to Research

Antiviral Drug Design and Discovery, Part 1

Rarely a month goes by that the medical community isn’t reporting the appearance of a new or re-emerging viral threat to the well being of a local population with the likelihood that people and/or insect or animal vectors will spread this infection to other locales. Placing this in a historical perspective shows that mankind has had to coexist with, and combat, infectious agents for centuries. However, recent circumstances have brought a more prevalent distribution of such agents: social globalization, increased microbial mutation rate, environmental alteration caused by urbanization, famine and poverty that accompany increasing populations, interspecies crossover of infectious diseases, immunomodulation in individuals, threat of bioterrorism, etc.

The research underway in the Schneller laboratory at Auburn University is focused on seeking drug candidates for the viruses in the emerging or re-emerging disease categories for which no suitable therapy (including vaccination) exists. The viruses of interest to the research group are shown below: